Let me start off first by saying HUGE SPOLIERS AHEAD andthat when I beat Mass Effect 3, I was extremely disappointed with the ending.It feels weird and off somehow. After looking around on the internet, andadding some of my own thoughts, I decided that the truth behind the endingshould be revealed on Giant Bomb as it has at several other sites around theweb. Most people's opinion is based on taking the ending as fact and notdigging behind the scenes. If you look at the evidence, you will see that BioWarepulled a fast one on the gaming community worthy of Hideo Kojima. Let me sayagain, I totally missed this stuff like most people. After being alerted to itand analyzing everything myself, I wrote this analysis.

For the too long, didn't read crowd:

- The child on Earth is not real. It is a manifestation ofShepard's indoctrination.

- Everything that happens after the screen turns white fromHarbinger's final shot during the dash to get to the Citadel is a dreamsequence brought about by Shepard's near death experience and indoctrination.

- By bringing 5000 war asset strength to the final fight,and choosing the far right option to destroy synthetic life, Shepard can beseen regaining consciousness. We know he is on Earth because he is surroundedby dark, brick like building material. If the Citadel actually blew up, Shepardwould not live and any Citadel debris would be silver, clean, and futuristiclooking.

- Choosing the far right option is the only one whereShepard will be alive and wake up. This is despite the Star Child/ The Guardiansnot so subtle warning that Shepard has synthetics and could be considered partsynthetic. This is in order to make that choice seem very bad, since it willkill the Geth, EDI, and Shepard too. The other two possible end game optionssee Shepard dissolve away, but supposedly for a noble cause. This is not thecase and is, in fact, a symbol that the Reapers have won.

- BioWare is taunting you with huge continuity holes in theend sequence, seeing who will take note.

This is my attempt to bring the truth of the end sequence toGiant Bomb so everyone can talk about it and understand just how good BioWare'swriting is. Let's start at the beginning.

The Start on Earth:

- The biggest thing to understand is that the child Shepardsees on Earth and throughout the game is not real. The child is a manifestationof the Reaper's slow but steady indoctrination of Shepard. He has been aroundReaper tech for the most consecutive amount of time. More than any otherorganic.

- Shepard first sees the child while waiting in his room onEarth, looking down from a window. This is the first sign the Reapers areclose.

- The next time Shepard sees the child is when Shepard andAnderson are trying to get to the Normandy, and Anderson leaves the room. Thechild is again seen only by Shepard and tells him "you can't help me". This isthe Reapers taunting Shepard, as the child represents all the people on EarthShepard cannot save. More on this to come.

- When Anderson comes back and interrupts Shepard there is aslight roaring sound. My understanding is that this is similar to the effectwitnessed by Paul Grayson while under Reaper control in Mass Effect:Retribution. Whenever Grayson fought Reaper control, he would hear roaring.

- Shepard starting to show the effects of indoctrinationmakes sense now that the Reapers are on Earth. The last thing Shepard didbefore being held on Earth was interact with the Reaper artifact in the ArrivalDLC for ME 2. It would make sense that with Reapers all around him, and in suchlarge numbers, his will would begin to fray.

- This video allows you to hear the roar at the :58 secondmark, proving the previous point about those suffering from indoctrination willhear roaring when the Reapers are not getting their way.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2DSx_C7rIU

- At the final scene before leaving Earth, the child looksright at Shepard. No one seems to pay the child any attention. Neither thesoldiers nor the civilians grab him or yell at him to get on the shuttle. AlsoShepard is the only person to witness this, as the other crew members that werepreviously on the ramp have turned and walked away. Finally, the loud Reapersounding horns only blare and drown out the piano while Shepard (and theplayer) are looking at the child and what he is doing. The Reapers are insideShepard's head. The sound design is very deliberate.

Dreams in the middle of the game:

- This is where things start to get deep. Again, the childrepresents the people Shepard cannot save on Earth. The child is a way for theReapers to mess with Shepard's head.

- The twist comes in the understanding that the dreamsequences themselves are there to mess with you, the player.

- Jeff Gerstmann has previously stated that he did not likethe dream sequences. This is the point. Bioware is messing with him along withthe rest of us.

- For a company that has shown in the past great ability towrite tight, intricate stories, these dream sequences come off as hokey andweirdly paced. Everything is in slow motion. This is important to remember downthe line.

Scenes with Kai Leng and the Prothean VI:

- On Thessia, Shepard talks with the Prothean VI. Just asthe VI is about to talk about the catalyst, it says "indoctrinated presencedetected." Some people claim that the VI was actually talking about Shepard,and that we are simply to assume it meant Kai Leng. I find this to be a weakpiece of evidence, but it may still hold some value.

The Final Push

It is here that we see the frustration about Mass Effect'sending. It is because the ending does not make sense on purpose. It isconvoluted to a fault. It is a tool for the Reapers to mess with Shepard. It isBioWare's chance to mess with you, the player.

- Everything is "ok" up until Shepard makes a mad dash forthe device that connects Earth to the Citadel. The first thing that happens isHarbinger (the main Reaper) drops onto Earth. This entrance is quick, nosily,and flashy. Harbinger's eyes glow bright. BioWare is sending you a message:"This is it, be on your guard."

Please use YouTube to check all these facts yourself. Hereis the first in a series of videos showing the end:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaZg0nr4oYI

- When Shepard awakes, everything is in slow motion as hemakes his way to the portal. This is a call back to when we know Shepard wasdreaming.

- Also notice how close Shepard and other dying soldiers areto the beam, yet Shepard got hit much farther away. If Shepard got pushed in adirection by the hit, it could have only been further away.

- The next issue occurs when Shepard fights his way onto theCitadel. The hallway he finds himself in is completely unguarded.

- Shepard hears Anderson over the radio. Anderson said hefollowed Shepard up, but doesn't know where he is. It is logical to assume thatAnderson would have ended up in the same place as Shepard if he used the samebeam transport.

- Furthermore, during the slow motion shootout, radiochatter can be heard that hammer force has been "wiped out." It would seemunlikely that Shepard would make it to the beam, much less Anderson followingafter him.

- Anderson and Shepard continue to talk, noting that thearea seems to be similar to the collector base. The second area Shepard reacheshas similar design to the Shadow Broker's ship, specifically the engine areawhere electricity jumped from point to point moving large metal pieces of theengine. The places Shepard has been before are bleeding into the dream. Shepardremarks that specifically the first area does not look like any area of theCitadel he has ever seen. BioWare is telling you that all is not well.

- As Shepard moves forward, Anderson says that doors arechanging. He comes to a chasm and is able to cross it. Anderson arrives at thecontrol station first, despite the fact that he followed Shepard to theCitadel, and there is only one path from the arrival point to the controlpanel.

- When Shepard comes to a dead end, doors simply open forhim, revealing a straight path to some kind of bright light where the controlpanel will appear to be. Again, this linear path is completely unguarded.

- Once Shepard arrives, the Illusive Man appears COMPLETELYALONE from the same linear path Shepard walked.

- The conversation with Anderson and the Illusive Man is afight between good and bad, paragon and renegade in Shepard's mind. TheIllusive Man wants to control the Reapers, let them live. This would be similarto the end choice in Mass Effect 2 about whether to save the collector base ordestroy it. Control would be the Renegade choice.

- Once this scene is over, Shepard opens the arms of theCitadel with the control panel. Ignoring the fact that Shepard has already seenand used the Citadel controls in Mass Effect 1 (they are at the Citadel Councilchambers), assuming there is a second panel that allows for control of theCitadel, would the Reapers leave it unguarded?

- Shepard gets up once more, only to collapse fromexhaustion and blood loss, and just happens to fall on a random elevator at thefoot of the panel that becomes engulfed in white light as it rises? This isgetting to be too much.

Meeting with Star Child/The Guardian:

- Having previously fallen and unable to get up, Shepard isorder to stand up by a child and simply does it.

It is important to understand that the Reapers are trying tostop Shepard, and Bioware will be messing with you, the player. The followingscene plays so unlike anything else in Mass Effect 3 because Shepard has nocontrol, he is in a dream. At no point can Shepard ask any questions. Only oncedoes a conversation choice come up, and either option is meaningless. Thisprevents the action from stopping, giving the player the chance to think aboutwhat is going on and how insane these events actually are. Shepard is in adream, he has no control. Also note that Star Child used the word "we" whentalking about the Reapers in the final scene.

- As seen in codex entries, and at the dead reaper where youacquire the Reaper IFF in Mass Effect 2, victims of indoctrination can begin tosee" hallucinations of 'ghostly' presences." I would say that appropriatelyfits the description of Star Child.

- Star Child begins this long process of talking in circles,finally giving Shepard three choices. The left most choice is shown in blue,the color of paragon. Yet control is what the Illusive Man wanted, and he isthe symbol for Renegade choices. The middle choice is also awash in blue. Itpromoted the idea of everlasting peace by combining organics with synthetics.If either of these options gets picked, Shepard disintegrates. The Reapers havewon. It is also interesting to note that choosing the control option sees StarChild linger and watch Shepard. The camera focuses on him and there appears tobe a smirk cross his face.

- The third option is on the right. You know, THE RIGHTCHOICE. It appears red and shows Anderson acting it out. Yet Anderson is thesymbol for Paragon. The Reapers further make you feel like it would be a badchoice by saying the Geth and EDI will be destroyed along with Shepard due tohim perhaps being somewhat synthetic. However, if you chose this option Shepardis not dissolved away and Star Child disappears IMMEDIATELY after Shepardstarts shooting, unlike the control option.

- The final piece of the puzzle is that if Shepard brings5000 or more war strength to the final battle, and chooses the option todestroy synthetic life. The same cut scene plays as if you had not gotten up to5000 war strength except for that after the ending where the Normandy "crashlands" on an alien planet, Shepard regains consciousness on Earth and takes aloud inhale. We know it is Earth because he is lying in dark brick-like rubble,which fits with the idea that Shepard was dreaming/being tested after his neardeath experience, and because the whole "ending" sequence is a mess of nonsenseto anyone who actively observes and is a fan of the Mass Effect Universe. Thefact that one would need at least 5000 war strength score to see this briefclip of Shepard being alive after passing the Reaper/indoctrination "test"means it is only initially seen by those who have played a lot of Mass Effect,i.e. fans who have done a very complete play through.

The final cut scenes:

I will now talk briefly about the final cut scenes that seecookie-cutter movies play with the only changes being the color of the energyblast, if the reapers lift off Earth or fall down, and Joker's eyes if thesynthesis option was chosen. It is important to note that this part is also nothappening, and is included just so BioWare can again mess explicitly with you,the player. When Shepard wakes up after brining 5000 war assets and choosingthe RIGHT option, it is after these scenes that he does so. This proves theseevents do not happen as well.

- One source of ire about the ending is that all threechoices are basically the same except the random ball of energy is a differentcolor. This implies lazy writing on the part of BioWare, and that your choicedoesn't matter. Having built a huge well-connected and well-defined universe,this is clearly not the case. BioWare is messing with you. Having been accusedof losing the magic and watering down the experience, BioWare is testing yourfaith in them. Would they really be able to tie everything back together inMass Effect 3, and then simply drop the ball in the last 15 minutes?

- There is the issue of the energy itself. Mass Effectprides itself on tying everything together scientifically. How would this randomenergy blast solve anything? It would certainly not allow everyone to suddenlybe half machine. This is an example of pure magic in Mass Effect, and manysimply believe it.

- Every choice sees the destruction of the mass relays. Asseen in the Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2, destroying a relay basicallydestroys an entire system. This implies that Earth, along with many otherplanets, are wiped clean and destroyed all across the galaxy. This is horrificif you think about it, and implies civilization of any kind will cease to existbecause pretty much everything is dead, and life sustaining planets have beenruined.

- Speaking about the Normandy specifically, for the ship tobe running from the energy blast it had to have entered the relay system beforethe energy started spreading. Why would they do this? Taking the ending at facevalue (which is wrong), no one would have known what was about to happen. Theyhad no warning time. The final fight was at Earth. Why would they be running?

- The blast eventually catches up with the Normandy, blowingup the back part of the ship. This would immediately drop the ship out of FTLtravel. According to the codex, this would kill everyone alive. "If the fieldcollapses while the ship is moving at faster-than-light speeds, the effects arecatastrophic. The ship is snapped back to sublight velocity, the enormousexcess energy shed in the form of lethal Cherenkov radiation."

- This is separate from the insane notion that with the backhalf of the ship gone, and snapping out of FTL flight, the Normandy would beanywhere near a planet, much less safely land on it.

- The final insult to anyone who cares about the Mass Effectuniverse is that after all that, BioWare takes us for such fools that we wouldbelieve Joker, the guy with brittle bone disease, is the first one up andkicking to open the door. When the Normandy crash lands on the collector basein Mass Effect 2, Joker says he might have "broken a rib, or all of them." Doyou think after snapping back to sub-FTL travel, and the back half of the shipbreaking up, AND crash landing on a planet, that Joker would be alive much lessthe first one to the door?

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So this concludes my analysis. If you have made it this faryou have no doubt seen the huge amount of evidence that points to the fact thatBioWare has fooled us all. The entire argument comes down to your faith inBioWare. Did they make such a great series of games only to have hugecontinuity holes in the last half hour? Did they make you think your choices matteredonly to see them have no bearing on the "ending"? They did, but knowingly sothey can mess with us. How great is that?